Tom Suozzi, left, and Ed Mangano, now battling for who will be the next county executive, were all smiles last Oct. 16 at the Presidential Debate at Hofstra University.

Last year’s election had all the hype, with the hotly contested race between President Barack Obama and challenger Mitt Romney, and the battle for control of Congress.

This year, there will be a battle for control of Nassau County. Republicans are looking to keep their majority in the Legislature and hold on to the executive branch. Democrats want to take back the power they lost four years ago.

The marquee election this year is the rematch between Republican Ed Mangano and Democrat Tom Suozzi for county executive. Four years ago, Mangano, then a county legislator representing the Bethpage area, unseated Suozzi in a close election that took weeks to decide.

Now Suozzi, of Glen Cove, is looking to return to his old office in the Theodore Roosevelt Executive Building. The former two-term county executive, after staying silent for the first three years after his defeat, has come out swinging, criticizing Mangano’s financial policies.

Mangano has counter punched, saying that he has not raised property taxes, and that voters threw Suozzi out of office for a reason. On Election Day, voters will have a choice between two candidates with established records in the office.

Andrew Hardwick, the former mayor of Freeport, could be on the ballot as a third-party candidate on the We Count party line.

Stanley Klein, a political science professor at LIU Post, said he does not see any issues that could be a game-changer in the county executive race like there were in 2001, when Suozzi first ran. That year, Suozzi was able to attack the previous Republican administration for bringing Nassau to financial ruin. “That’s not the situation right now,” Klein said.

When the candidates met in 2009, Suozzi had a lot of money in his war chest, but was saving it for a run for higher office, Klein said, and Suozzi didn’t devote the time to the race that he should have. This time around, the former county executive has vowed to be much more involved in the election.

Comments

As the race heats up for County Executive, and the political ads play on TV, one must be immediately struck by the hypocrisy of Mr. Suozzi's ads in which he blatantly states that he balanced the budget and did not raise taxes. Surely Mr. Suozzi, you don't expect us to swallow either of these 'facts' without a strong chaser! When our county taxes went up by 23%, were we hallucinating, or did the money really disappear from our bank accounts? If Ed Mangano had not taken the job away from you, we were to be saddled with another 16% increase, or was that also imagined? And as for the balanced budget, did you not leave the county $160,000,000 in the red with the political patronage jobs, the fiscal loans, and of course your $65,000 pay increase? Please Tom, tell me where the lie is! I'm backing Ed Mangano for another term- he's earned it!

Mr. Suozzi, sometimes you have to know when to walk away graciously.....this is the time. Is there nothing about term limits, or the ability to "re-run" for office on the county level. Please don't get like the Clintons. We can't get rid of them! Are you that much of an egotist that you just can't stand the thought of yourself being voted out? Our fiscal condition is bad enough, let's not make it worse by adding you back into the mix. Please leave quietly, gentlemanly and with dignity. Sometimes, you actually improve your image by doing so.

Anyone who votes 4 Suozzi is a fool-hi tax Tom baby-m/be you can get that cushy no-show job back at Cablevision ofr go back to the law firm and taqke waiters' and busboys hard earned tips at catering halls. Or m/be try running 4 Governor-we can't do any worse than the wanna be President Andrew Cuomo who is another used car salesman.